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December 12, 1944

The unit his B-24s are attacking here at Cocos Island displays for him as "53rd Division" due to it still having the majority of support devices compared to the "fragment" of 53rd Division that is elsewhere. It's the only reason I can think of for the continued use of heavy bombers here, besides possibly training up the crews.

He could just as easily land a regiment or two of prepped troops and the ~25AV left on this island would fold like a wet paper bag.

December 12, 1944

Meanwhile, this happened. Only 2 torpedoes launched, probably saved my bacon. Typically on a salvo of 6, the CV eats 1 hit.

December 12, 1944

Hrm, my screenshots are saved somewhat out of order.

Night bombing of PBang lands a hit on a DD that's been there a while. For the most part, our actual NF's on night CAP have been spoiling the aim of the attacking bombers at Palembang and Medan over the last couple of days.

The major difference seems to be that NF's don't die in droves, but otherwise not much difference in the results.

December 12, 1944

Perfect example of what I just mentioned in the previous post. Just one of several or a dozen or so raids.

December 12, 1944

Cagayan has been under siege for a while. Forts only started at 4 or 5, and they're down to 3 now (IIRC). I haven't bloodied the Allies here as much as I'd hoped, given how much I bloodied them at Davao (forts were at 7 there, but the major bloodying came around forts 5-6 as I got some reinforcements in).

I wasn't able to get another convoy of supplies in to Cagayan, so supplies there are down under 15K. It will probably fall within a few weeks. Before it does, I will try to airlift out some cadres (the 117th Division shown in the combat animation is itself a cadre that was flown in from Manila).

December 12, 1944

Submarine sinking sounds were heard during the noontime damage control phase, so I know a sub went down. According to Tracker, that would be the 94th or 95th. It's not that high, but I think it might be upwards of 50 at least.

The TKs at Miri were worth a few more VPs than I'd have liked, but that's just how it is.

December 13, 1944

On a whim, I opened up a spreadsheet on my desktop from sometime in 1942 titled "Bullwinkle VP Planning"... It was something I did to back-of-the-envelope some scenarios for VPs and what ratio I'd be looking at. Basically, it was a tool to confirm to myself that I was indeed out of reach of an autovictory at the 3:1 ratio in 1944.

Before I get to that, here's a screenshot of the current VP situation in Tracker.

December 13, 1944

Tracker summary screen. It's always interesting to look at this one from time to time as it shows the entire OOB for your side and what you've got + what you've lost.

The CVL and CVE losses for me were entirely preventable and occurred back in 1942.

I think the CVL and CVE losses for the Allies are only overstated on this list by perhaps 2 or 3, maybe up to 5 in the case of the CVEs. The CVs... I think they're actually spot-on at 6. I know I sunk Lexington, Saratoga, Enterprise, Hornet, Wasp, and Indomitable. I think the original Yorktown is maybe still alive.

47 SSX sunk for, I think, zero hits = 188 free VPs for the Allies.

I've lost a somewhat appalling number of AK/xAK-types.

You can see that I didn't go nuts converting ARs, something I wish I'd done now.

I'm not short on DDs. Yet.

December 13, 1944

Got a few days' worth to post.

Night bombing at PBang. Relatively unconcerning, and the more he bombs it the more he'll have to actually ship fuel this way.

December 13, 1944

Lots of raids in China at night. I don't know what he's trying to accomplish.

December 13, 1944

Daytime. Over on Mindanao, a few sweeps by Ki-83's based at Manila. Very long range for us.

They do very well, which is typical but by far not the only result they can achieve (sometimes it's closer to 1:1). I need to find a way to mix in some Frank-r sweeps at some point, or perhaps some George-5's. If I can find them to spare.

Unfortunately, the pools I'm hitting are relatively deep ones here. Spitfire VIII's, Hellcats, Corsairs...

December 13, 1944

I'm virtually certain this kind of thing does not escape his notice. I don't really have a useful place to stash KB right now where it could still react to an opportunity to harvest some VPs.

We should be generating a few bomb hits on submarines every now and then. My pilots are skilled.

December 13, 1944

Infested with subs. Need more E(xterminator)-class ships.

December 13, 1944

I'll "glide" my oil even more as we get into 1945, but the sources are all basically dry.

December 13, 1944

Somehow, this still doesn't take out quite all the Oil. There is still 10 production at Miri on the 14th.

December 13, 1944

Successive sweeps of Palembang with some LRCAP. P-51D losses here are underreported, I think - LRCAP losses sometimes do not show up in the combat report.

This sets up another aerial battle that will occur in 2 days. Glad I'm revisiting this information before I do the orders for that turn.

December 13, 1944

An example of the air phases I've been dealing with. Composite image of all the recon shots I've been seeing show up in the replay. Every base with a circle is one that has been the target of recon either this day or within the past few.

Not all have garrisons, but of those that don't not all of them would be useful to him (nor even within paratrooper range).

December 13, 1944

The end begins on Mindanao. I didn't get forts here high enough, nor did I get enough supply in.

December 13, 1944

Air losses for the 13th. A good day.

Total Air Losses through December 13

I thought I'd show air losses sorted by model.

It occurs to me that I don't actually know how many F6F-3 the USN receives. I'm pretty sure both USAAF Thunderbolt pools are empty, although the P-47N should show up soon?

I don't think any other Allied pools are in truly dire shape, but I think maybe the B-25 situation might be a little strained.